A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

The peaceful gravesite of a rugged wild west gunman echoes the touching story of his last days.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

A bronze tribute to a legendary Californian, the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States."

Prone to disastrous fires, the city of San Francisco has the Guardian, a fireboat gifted by residents, to watch over them from the bay.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

The original place where water met land in the City by the Bay is outlined in brass.

The remains of a deserted steamboat sit rusting beside an old ferry pier and an abandoned train platform.

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

Each summer, the migratory bats living beneath the bypass form "batnadoes" at dusk.

A large instrument played by the wind.

This bakery sits on the site of the Black Panther Party's first headquarters.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

The capitol city's oldest existing cemetery.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

The rusting remains of the largest assembled WWII fleet on the West Coast.

A tiny survivor of the Donner Party disaster.

A sparse, solitary sequoia still stands as a living tribute to the famous conservationist who planted it—but it's dying.

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

Sports history, made in the Arroyo Seco.